Disgraced ex-NBA referee Donaghy to be released

By Frank Fitzpatrick, Inquirer Staff Writer

Posted: November 02, 2009

Tim Donaghy will be released from federal prison Wednesday, according to consultants the ex-NBA referee has hired to ease his post-prison transition.

Donaghy, a Havertown native who lost his job and was sentenced to 15 months for providing inside information to gamblers, hopes to find a job in sales or marketing, according to a press release issued last night by Executive Prison Consultants.

"Other than the injured condition of his knee, Donaghy is in good health and is excited about reuniting with his four daughters and family," the release read.

Calls to the federal prison camp in Pensacola, Fla., where Donaghy served most of his sentence were not immediately returned.

In August, Donaghy, who had been transferred to a halfway house in Tampa two months earlier, was sent back to the Pensacola facility after he made an unauthorized trip that his wife said was for treatment of his injured knee.

Donaghy told prison officials he'd been struck in the knee by a prisoner associated with the New York mob.

Donaghy, the release noted, plans to live in the Sarasota area and continue treatment for his gambling addiction. He also will try to find a new publisher for a book that Random House rejected last week.